We challenged ourselves with some fairly straight forward cooking this round, things you’d expect to be easy and produce excellent results. Most of the recipes used common ingredients, many from our home-pantry. We put up 3 slow-cooker cookbooks against each other; we cooked some surprisingly easy and delicious vegan and vegetarian recipes, we took on celebrity chef Michael Symon’s straightforward approach to meat and we rounded everything out with three deliciously chocolate recipes from the doyenne of baking herself, Rose Levy Beranbaum, in her new book Rose’s Baking Basics. While all of the recipes rated well enough to land on Now That’s A MouthfulRecipes Page, that didn’t mean they weren’t without issue. We learned a lot, asked a lot of questions and, as usual, our testers had a lot to say about what we were cooking!

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The recipes discussed in this episode come from these cookbooks and others. Find more on our Cookbooks Page.

When it comes to food, and good flavor, Chloe Flavor has it, and has it in spades. Recipes that are friends and family worthy, easily adaptable to your dietary platform, and made from a pantry already filled with common ingredients, are what make this book a page-turner. Not to mention meals that are stress-free and invited you to relax – with people – for a meal. And that gets you thinking and may just inspire you into the kitchen.

Meat has a way of elevating a dish, a meal, even an entire celebration, and in Michael Symon’s Carnivore that becomes abundantly evident. Equally evident is Symon’s intense approach to meat. Carnivore not only gets you to think about a sustainable approach to meat, but also to think outside of the box – both in terms of the different cuts to cook, and putting meals together, keeping meat on center stage.

By Rose Levy Beranbaum

With the increased insurgence of chef’s publishing their own versions of “back to basics” books, I was somewhat skeptical of Rose Levy Beranbaum writing her own baking basics book. Having coveted and cherished her award winning Cake Bible for many years, I didn’t think she could improve upon or teach me anything more about baking. Well, I can humbly and honestly say, “I was wrong!” Beranbaum’s love for teaching translates into easily understood explanations of baking techniques in Rose’s Baking Basics, which takes the fear out of baking. Any baker tackling these recipes can succeed, while learning and still having fun in the process.

Who doesn't love to cook in one pot? Since our first kitchens we've had on hand a sheet pan, a Dutch oven, or a skillet. But now, incorporate today's convenient countertop appliances – insta pot, slow cooker, air fryer, anyone? – and we’ve got the recipe to eat healthier and cook at home, but spend less time in the kitchen doing it. With the one-pot meal concept behind best-selling author Gina Homolka’s Skinnytaste One & Done, if we have fewer dishes to clean up, so much the better. Homolka’s Skinnytaste brand for healthy, flavor forward recipes, are right here in all of the 140 one pot cooking options.

By Phyllis Good

If you have a slow-cooker somewhere in your home, pay attention. Phyllis Good, author of the wildly popular Fix-it and Forget-it series, has done it again. In her latest book, Stock the Crock, Good manages to curate a collection of fresh and innovative recipes that uses your slow-cooker as a multi-purpose kitchen appliance. She offers abundant ideas and ways to adapt these recipes for any occasion or palate, including gluten-free, paleo or vegetarian. Good offers a full range of choices for getting both classic and contemporary recipes on to the table. Stock the Crock makes you rethink how (and why) to use your slow cooker.

By Naomi Twigden and Anna Pinder

Daily life is challenging and Lunchbox Salads is written with that understanding in mind. We eat lunch at office desks or on the run. For what you pay to grab-‘n-go and hope it’s healthy, authors Naomi Twigden and Anna Pinder suggest with their help, that time and money put to better use in making your own fast fresh and simple good food. They call it a “salad”, but it’s really naturally healthy, energizing food in one container. Salad is much more than just lettuce leaves, and Lunchbox Salads proves that.

Who doesn’t have a slow cooker or a pressure cooker? Maybe, you have an insta pot or multi-cooker? These iconic counter-top convenience appliances have changed home cooking. While they deliver up the convenience promised, you need a separate library of recipes for each. Like a slow cooker recipe? Good luck making it in your insta pot. Enter Better Homes & Gardens Fast or Slow. This book is for everyone who wants the convenience of preparing homecooked meals on their time schedule. Have time in the morning? Prep your meal in the slow cooker and have it waiting for you when you return home. Running late? No problem. Make that same meal at the end of your day, in about 30 minutes. Nice!